Anyone ever hear of a "predatory" Congo tetra?

Leopardess

Leopardess

Everything's eventual.
Aug 13, 2003
1,955
0
0
New Hampshire Seacoast Area
Visit site
Well, naturally I jinxed it. Last night the husband and I were discussing the miracle that was getting six silver hatchet fish and not a single one of them dying (we got them this past winter). We looked them over, admiring how beautiful they were.

Tonight, I look over and to my horror, I see one of them dead and floating. The thing is, it's entire back end was eaten off with what looked like one foul chomp. Normally, I'd assume it died of "natural" causes and was afterwards eaten. However, given that I was just looking at it last night and noticed nothing, combined with it's carcass exhibiting clear, glossy eyes, smooth shiny scales, clear fins, no irregulariets,etc...I've found myself half-wondering (I say half because I admit it's rather improbable!) if a congo tetra got hungry! I've got a few larger males who are voracious eaters...and if you've never seen an adult congo, be advised their teeth are pretty big proportionally!

They're such beautiful fish though...I just decided that I think I'm going to get more.


congo.JPG
 
Are you kidding? A medium size school of Congos will strip a 6 foot catfish in an hour! Hehe..

Just about any fish will turn on another if it senses it has an opportunity - the hatchet may have been a little sick and started to swim a little funny - stuff like that will make neons predators. Or if the congo felt the size differential was enough for the hatchet to be prey..who knows. I do know that if it were mbuna, the eyes would be gone...those buggers love to go for the eyes! But I digress....I hope you don't lose any more fish under "suspicious" circumstances!
 
I don't think your congo killed your fish, like Yofishboy said there was something wrong with it in the first place. With those kind of fish is it not unusual for them to die suddenly without any warning signs(Or warning signs that we can understand)
 
leopardess, I can guarantee that your congos did not commit the crime, but may have nibbled on him afterwards. I have 17 full medium to large 2" - 3.5" congos in a 75 gallon tank and in the same tank I have three 1.5" harlequin rasbora, 3 fancy guppy and 5 1.5" long glowlight tetras.

The congos dont seem to care, chase or notice anyone else. Not one person missing a fin anywhere :) You can see in the picture they are quite big. Dont mind the crazy roots in the picture. They are houseplants that I have growing up into the top portion of the tank. They keep the water cleaner than with no plants but they also tint my water some green/yellowish colour but chemistry is still good in the water....

http://powerthings.com/pics/aquarium/congotank.jpg
 
I know it seems ridiculous - I admit that. But it all seems really odd LOL. I was kind of half-joking, half serious.

I'm getting more congoes as soon as I get to Salem. Mine are all "big" also....and in with smaller fish (at least, when the scissortails were small). An adult congo can reach 4-5" though, so I don't know if I'd call my 3 inchers big.

I still think the dominant male looks guilty:D

EDIT: Nice picture. It's huge, but nice:)
 
Last edited:
Well I was talking to someone and they said that 99% of the time, in most tanks unless its a really big one (say 200+ gallons), congos rarely get to 4" long so I'd say your 3" ones can be considered pretty big :) Oh by the way, I fixed my picture. I think I forgot to resize it. It was pretty freaking huge. LOL
 
Hm, well they were selling some at a store I go to that were about 5". My tank is a 125g...so they've got plenty of room:)

The picture is still the same size for me, but it's no big deal LOL.
 
svtcontour said:
leopardess, I can guarantee that your congos did not commit the crime, but may have nibbled on him afterwards. I have 17 full medium to large 2" - 3.5" congos in a 75 gallon tank and in the same tank I have three 1.5" harlequin rasbora, 3 fancy guppy and 5 1.5" long glowlight tetras.

The congos dont seem to care, chase or notice anyone else. Not one person missing a fin anywhere :) You can see in the picture they are quite big. Dont mind the crazy roots in the picture. They are houseplants that I have growing up into the top portion of the tank. They keep the water cleaner than with no plants but they also tint my water some green/yellowish colour but chemistry is still good in the water....

http://powerthings.com/pics/aquarium/congotank.jpg
Click to expand...

Wow, that fancy guppy is beautiful! I've never seen one so beautifully colored.
 
svtcontour said:
Well I was talking to someone and they said that 99% of the time, in most tanks unless its a really big one (say 200+ gallons), congos rarely get to 4" long so I'd say your 3" ones can be considered pretty big :) Oh by the way, I fixed my picture. I think I forgot to resize it. It was pretty freaking huge. LOL
Click to expand...

I see some at my local pest store that are atleast 6", maybe more.
 
Wow 6" is huge. I think when I went to the zoo,the ones they had in there were about 5" long and the guy said they have had them for years and routinely feed them live food too. The ones I get here in stores are usually 1.5-2" long. Most of mine are 3" to 3.5" long right now. Down the road I'm planning to get a 240 so they will all go in there.

PS. Thanks about the guppies. I have three like that. They were actually given to me by a friend. They are always super busy. Non stop chasing one another.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
AquariaCentral.com
Top Bottom